" ITREALMS: Nigeria, 19 African countries rides on AfDB Open Data

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

Nigeria, 19 African countries rides on AfDB Open Data


Nigeria is among 20 African countries to benefit from the African Development Bank (AfDB) open data platforms.

Other countries include Algeria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Ghana, Rwanda, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

AfDB in a press statement made available to ITRealms by the African Press Organization, Thursday endorsed by Director, Statistics Department, Mr. Charles Leyeka Lufumpa, said that the programme was part of the AfDB’s recently launched “Africa Information Highway” initiative aimed at significantly improving data management and dissemination on African continent.

According to him, work has commenced to complete platforms for the rest of African countries by July 2013.  

AfDB official explained that the Open Data platform is a user-friendly tool for extracting data, creating and sharing own customized reports, and visualizing data across themes, sectors and countries in tables, charts and maps.

Through the Open Data Platform, he said, users could access a wide range of development data on African countries from multiple international and national official sources.

“The platform also facilitates the collection, analysis and sharing of data among countries and with international development partners,” he said, pointing out that the platform offers a unique opportunity for various users, such as policymakers, analysts, researchers, business leaders and investors around the world, to gain access to reliable and timely data on Africa.

Additionally, he said, users could visualize time series development indicators over a period of time, perform comprehensive analysis at country and regional levels, utilize presentation-ready graphics or create their own, blog, and share their views and work with others, thereby creating an informed community of users.

The director emphasized that the Open Data Platform initiative is a response by the African Development Bank Group aimed at significantly increasing access to quality data necessary for managing and monitoring development results in African countries, including the MDGs.

“It responds to a number of important global and regional initiatives to scale up the availability of quality data on Africa and so foster evidence-based decision-making, public accountability and good governance,” he said.

Once implemented, he said, the Open Data Platform will be used by African countries for all data submission flows to the AfDB and possibly other international development partners, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), EU Commission, World Health Organization (WHO), UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), African Union Commission (AUC) and UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

“This initiative presents a unique opportunity for African countries to take the lead in implementation and promotion of international statistical standards across all countries in the region and in enhancing the quality of the data disseminated by African countries,” he said.
 
Maintaining that the initiative will also significantly revolutionize data management and dissemination in Africa, and reposition the continent for more effective participation in the global information economy.

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